Can you Hear Me?
by 1221bookworm
Summary: Inspired by the Tumblr prompt of the same name. Kai is getting a speech lesson, and being his sassy self. Just a short drabble of the relationship between a younger Kai and Torin.


**A/N: So this was inspired by my sister. She's in a performance at our local community theatre and she came home from practice and said that they sounded terrible and had a lot of work to do before the production. I was looking through my Tumblr prompts, and the "Can you hear me" kinda reminded me of what she was going through.**

 **This was not the story I was originally planning, but it's what came out, so I hope you enjoy Kai getting a lesson on how to be his awesome sassy self.**

 **I don't own the Lunar Chronicles or any of it's characters.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Can you hear me?"

Kai practically shouted it. Torin had disappeared somewhere in the darkness.

"Did you say something?" Torin's voice drifted down, terribly faint. Kai groaned in protest.

"Of course – I have to speak up – and he's barely an echo – that's been rattling around for a week."

"Is that so?" Torin's voice boomed. Kai glanced guilty behind him, but Torin wasn't there.

Kai searched the upper levels with his eyes for his father's advisor. They were in what Torin called "the old movie theatre." It had been added to the palace sometime in the Second Era. Over the years, it was equipped with the latest technology in portscreens. Occasionally, his father used the rooms when looking at maps of the whole Eastern Commonwealth with his military commanders. Mostly, it sat empty.

Except when Torin commandeered it for Kai's speech lessons. While most teenagers would only be expected to give a speech in a classroom that was probably the size of Kai's dressing room, Kai was expected to fill the entire theatre.

"Start over." Torin of course, had no trouble. "From the top," Torin prompted when Kai hesitated.

"The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." Kai didn't know where Torin dragged this up from. He rolled his eyes before starting.

"Once upon a time – "

"Atom? Why are we talking about atoms?" Torin was standing in front of Kai again.

Kai threw his arms up, using the gesture to "accidentally" scatter the papers he had been reading. "There's no point!"

Torin raised his eyebrows. Kai ignored the warning signs. "You said yourself this theatre is meant to be filled by those speakers in the wall – not like the really ancient amphitheaters you told me about. It's impossible."

"I will take you to an amphitheater, Your Highness," Kai smiled brightly, "When you have proved that you can at least passably orate."

Kai dropped to his knees to collect his lines and hide his disappointment. He was glad his father was the Emperor. Torin was a dictator.

When he stood up, he decided to try a new argument. "Everyone today uses microphones. With a mic on, this theatre would be filled through the speakers. And they're so small now."

He had to raise his voice as Torin had turned and started pacing away, hands tucked behind his back.

"That is true. It makes our lives so much easier. However, I have a question." If there was one thing Torin enjoyed more than speechmaking, it was debate.

"I'm listening. And I'm going to prove I'm right!" Kai wasn't sure, but he thought he heard the slightest echo.

"What happens when you have to make an unplanned address, perhaps after a natural disaster – "

Kai interrupted, casting his voice to find Torin up in the last row. "I could always carry a microphone in my pocket. Then I would just whip it out," Kai demonstrated by pulling his hand out of his pocket and pressing it to his ear, "always prepared." There. Definitely an echo. Torin didn't even notice.

"What would that microphone project to, Your Highness?" Kai winced. Torin only said ' _Your Highness_ ' in that tone when Kai was being particularly stupid.

"There are speakers everywhere – I would transmit live over the net." Kai refused to back down.

"So, if your people have flocked out to see you, and you are standing on the podium in front of them – they must turn and watch the closest netscreen? That would mightily disappoint your populace."

"They wouldn't have to watch!" Now Torin was just being stupid. "As long as there are netscreens in the area, they would only need to hear on it, not see. They can keep looking wherever they want. Even their feet or something."

"Ah, but Your Highness, why would you wish to inconvenience yourself when you have worked so hard and done so well?"

Kai looked around, shocked. He had been so busy crafting his argument that he hadn't realized that his voice was no longer lost to the bowels of the theatre.

Torin was standing in the back row, directly facing Kai.

"I think, if you continue at this pace, you will very soon be visiting that amphitheater, Your Highness." Torin started down the aisle as he spoke. "I have also realized something." He stopped directly in front of Kai. "I have not served you well," he bowed elegantly, "We will immediately commence a new format: we will combine our speech lessons with our debates. Please research a topic of interest of you for our next session. You may choose pro or con. I look forward to your continued improvement." With a final bow, Torin exited. The lesson was done.

Kai looked around the dark room. He felt a sense of pride at his accomplishment. Torin was right. This was a useful skill, and Kai would master it.

Smiling to himself, Kai let himself out. Turning back to look one last time, he had an idea. He paced back to his spot in the very middle of the front, turned to the empty seats, and raised his arms, as if to greet a cheering crowd.

"One day, I will be as great an emperor as my Father." He relished the echos that returned to him, each as clear as if he had just spoken them.

When the final echo faded into memory, Kai turned on his heel and marched out of the room without looking back.


End file.
